If This Was A Fan Fiction
by ChocolateIsKryptonite
Summary: When avid fanfiction reader, Samantha Perrick, went outside one day and chatted with a strange dog, she never thought anything like this would ever happen...
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Although i wish i did, i do not own anything Harry Potter Universeish, nor do i own anything that i will reference during this story ;) Have fun :D**

Samantha Perrick was sitting crossed legged on her large bed in her dark bedroom.

In front of her was her laptop and its bright screen was displaying a seemingly never-ending list of Harry Potter fan fiction, she closed the lid and then gave a pain filled groan as she stretched out her legs on either side of it.

Sam then awkwardly swung her legs around to the side of the bed and managed to get one of her feet tangled in the laptop's charging cord on the way.

After the mission of standing up was effectively accomplished without too much more trouble, Sam decided that she needed to go outside for a while and enjoy the sun that always failed to invade her bedroom windows.

For the millionth time since her and her family moved to this house, Sam wished her room would get more natural light. Her sock clad feet moved her across the soft carpeted floor and out towards the kitchen.

She debated internally about whether she was hungry or bored, eventually she decided that she was just bored and so made her way through the kitchen and into the living area.

Her father was asleep on the couch in front on the TV so Samantha tried to move with more stealth. However, she forgot about the creaky floorboard, which she just happened to then step on.

The floor gave an almighty groan and Sam thought for sure that her dad would have woken up, thankfully he didn't.

Having successfully moved the rest of the way through the room, Sam reached the glass sliding doors that would take her out onto the veranda.

She then stepped outside and was immediately greeted by the obnoxious yowling of one of the family cats.

"Shhh, Crooks!" she admonished the cat. She had named him, like many other people had named their cats, after Hermione Granger's cat Crookshanks.

The fat ginger animal sadly did not stop its grotesque meowing, proving how very unlike Hermione's cat it was.

"Why can't you be a clever kitty?" Sam complained as she shuffled past the fluffy lump and headed down the small stones steps that would lead into the garden.

Thankfully, the noisy cat didn't follow her when she started walking over to her favourite tree.

The tree was near the end of the narrow cobblestone garden path, its leafy limbs provided the perfect amount of shade and under it was the best place to sit and relax.

When Sam's parents had been looking around the house and trying to choose if they wanted to buy it, the backyard had been the deciding factor.

Both of her parents loved the outdoors, and in the months that the Perrick family had been living here, they managed to keep alive the magical and peaceful feeling that being in the garden invoked.

Samantha flopped down on the lush grass beneath the old tree and sighed contentedly. A soft 'Meow' interrupted her peace; Sam turned her head and saw her favourite cat staring at her.

"Hello, Fluffy, come to hear more about fan fiction?" Sam asked hopefully.

The tabby cat blinked once but otherwise didn't move. Sam took that to be an affirmative answer.

"Well" she began, "I've just finished reading this really cute one about-"

Her sentence was cut off by the sudden hissing of the animal beside her.

"Fluffy Cat? What's wrong?" Sam questioned as she sat up.

The cat glared at something behind Samantha before sprinting away up the path. Apprehension washed through her as she slowly turned to face whatever was behind her.

With a jolt, Samantha realised that it was a huge black dog. Normally she loved dogs, but this one wasn't one she had seen before, a fact that made Sam even more nervous.

The large canine crept closer; the movements ruffled the shaggy dark fur that covered its powerful body.

Sam wondered briefly if she should try to run away but then almost immediately dismissed the idea as being completely stupid.

The dog padded closer and without warning, it plonked itself onto the soft grass beside her. It even went so far as to place its rather heavy head on her lap. To say Sam was shocked would be quite the understatement.

Almost against her will, Sam found her hand reaching out and touching the soft looking fur on the dog's head.

Her pounding heart starting to calm down as the moments wore on and she still hadn't been viciously attacked. She grinned down at the mass of fur and said,

"Hey, doggy."

The 'doggy' lifted his head and Sam realised abruptly that he has strange grey eyes. She gave a small laugh,

"You know, if this was a fan fiction, you would _totally_ be Sirius Black."

To her surprise, the dog barked. This made her grin even more as she spoke again,

"Yes, you would. You'd be Sirius Black and I would be the misunderstood wallflower that you get to know, after I help you when you get injured or something of course."

A pitiful whine signalled that the dog didn't agree, that or he realised he was hungry and wanted food.

"Or maybe I was the feisty girl with whom you always argued and one day you said something extra horrible and I went off to cry somewhere. In your animagus form, you came to comfort me."

Another sound of complaint.

"No?" Sam asked, "Well then, let's say I'm related to James or Remus? And you have to go through the journey of realisation, and find that you don't actually see me as a sister, but as the love of your life?"

She was giggling by then and her laughter increased as the big hound made a coughing noise.

"That's not it either? Hmm…" she slipped into a contemplative silence.

The dog noticed that she was no longer petting him and so started to lick her hand in order to get her attention back. Sam chuckled,

"Would you kindly stop that, Sirius? I'm trying to think here…oh!"

She sat up straighter, "I know! You were involved in an accident involving an exploded time turner or something, and you got sent to the future!"

The dog rolled over onto his back and gave her what she could only describe as an amused stare.

"Obviously sent to the future, because this is the year 2022! And Sirius was killed in 1996…unless you didn't die in the Department of Mysteries?"

A sharp bark gave Sam the impression that she was on the right track.

"Oh, so maybe you fell through the Veil…oh and got de-aged…then sent to a parallel universe! Gosh, I am _so_ good at this!"

She looked triumphantly at the creature sprawled beside her and continued her conjecture,

"You were de-aged because everyone likes the 16 ish year old Sirius Black."

Sam noted amusedly that the dog seemed to puff up with pride.

"Ahh and also, the de-aging thing is because we can't have you taken from Harry's time, you were sorta important and we can't change history like that. But you don't have your memories of being older than 16; a happy and non-crazy Sirius is also a favourite of readers. That's why there are so many Marauder Era fics."

Samantha stroked the dog's ears for a moment before continuing,

"And the parallel universe thing is because otherwise you couldn't be here. There's no magic here, only the books written by the absolutely brilliant J.K Rowling. Unless I'm a muggle…nah that's not right, I am so amazing and magical!"

At the sound of a laugh like bark, Sam looked down and petted the dog again.

"And I'm obviously really modest, if you couldn't tell."

She fell into silence for a few minutes, before starting up again,

"But why would you be here? Unless…hah!" she locked her sky blue eyes to the dogs steel grey ones,

"Soul bond?" she questioned

The canine tilted his head to the side.

"Yeah, I know, where do they get 'soul bonds' from, I don't remember them being mentioned in the actual books. But," she supposed, "I guess everyone loves the idea of a soul mate and true love and all that."

A minute of comfortable silence.

"Okay, let's go with 'Soul bond'. By why me? And how, when we're from different universes?"

A cold nose nudged her hand; she went back to patting him.

"Hmm, let's say… oh! We aren't from different universes! I was taken from your world when I was a baby! Because…because your family feared how strong you could become if you had your soul mate?"

He gave a loud bark.

"Hmm yeah, I thought that sounded pretty legit too. But how did they know I was your soul mate?... Well I read a really good soul bond fic once and in it there was a magical book that had a list of all the names of the soul bonded pairs so…I guess your psycho mum somehow found it?"

The big dog suddenly tried to lick her face,

"Eww Sirius, get off!... That's better. So I guess you landed here, in this world because that's where I am? And you're a dog because…?"

The dog in question was staring at her expectantly.

"No Sirius, _you're_ supposed to answer it, I can't do all the work here…fine, stop with the puppy dog eyes already. Hmm… how about this then? When you went through the Veil, your magic got messed up and so you got stuck in your animagus form and will only change back once we go through again?"

His head tilted to the side in an inquisitive manner again.

"Yes, we. Obviously, we both need to get back to our own reality and we're soul mates, we have to be together. See? And I'm guessing that we both just need to touch the books to get back, I don't know why though."

She had a sudden thought,

"Oh! We'll be put into the future! And we can be 6th years with Albus Severus!"

The black dog gave a shake of his head.

"You know who it is. James and Lily's grandkid. Well, one of them."

Sam quickly explained what happened to James and Lily's family. The dogs' head bowed at the when the story got to the bit where James and Lily died and Sam could have sworn there were tears leaking from those stormy grey eyes. She wrapped her arms around the big dogs' neck.

"On a happy note, we can go to school with Albus! Not James Sirius because that would be _way_ too much for you to handle, I mean he looks just like James did!"

A crack of thunder sounded in the distance, causing both Samantha and the dog to jump.

"Well, Mr Sirius Doggy, thank you for relieving me of my boredom, but I'd better get back inside now. I think I might look up fictions about Teddy Lupin, a friend of mine told me about a good one called 'Going Unnoticed', I should go and check it out."

She slowly stood up, gave the dogs' dark head one last stroke and then she trotted quickly up the cobbled path.

She didn't look back as she was walking to see if he was still there, but once she was safely back in her dark bedroom, Samantha Perrick could have sworn she heard a lonely howl pierce the increasingly cold air.

**AN****: Hello, now this is not trying to be mean to people who write Sirius/OC fanfics, because i love those people, i really do. I just thought this might be fun, so please don't hate me ;( **

**Anyone see my shameless advertising of my other fic? haha :D Anyways, i would appreciate any words about this fic ;) so pretty please review?**


	2. Chapter 2

The storm had come on quite suddenly; the sky was now darkened by angry looking rain clouds and the icy wind was lashing against the house, peeking, prying and trying to find a way in.

Lightning occasionally flared, illuminating, if anyone had been looking out of their windows, the dark form of a large dog that was sitting near the back porch.

While outside was getting thoroughly soaked by the freezing downpour, Samantha was snuggling deeper into her soft blankets, she had hot cup of tea to heat her numb fingers as she stared at her computer screen.

Unfortunately, the story that she was reading was just not holding her attention anymore, her thoughts kept straying back to earlier that day with the dog.

Sam shook her head at her foolishness; she was always trying to make something simple into something fantastical, creating wild theories to make everything seem more interesting and magical.

A flash of light struck her room, causing her to jump slightly.

_Lightning_, she thought as she disentangled herself from her many layers of warmth and hopped over to her large windows.

Sam had never been lucky enough to actually catch the phenomenon as it happened but, she decided, tonight she would, even if she had to freeze her butt off by standing next to the cold window.

With a trembling hand, she pulled back the light curtain, shuffling closer to ensure she could see as much as possible.

When the lightning flashed again, she missed it, having been looking in the wrong spot. She did, however nearly die of fright for the second time that day.

The big black beast of a dog, was staring right at her. Once her heart calmed itself again, Sam felt pity wash over her, much like how the rain was washing over the deprived animal outside.

_It must be freezing out there, poor thing._

She knew it was a bad idea, her parents would not want her to do it, but Sam could not just let the unfortunate creature sit out there, not while she was enjoying the shelter the house provided.

She needed to get the dog inside somehow, without her parents noticing.

_If only I had an invisibility cloak… _she thought, wistfully as she pondered various ways to achieve her goal.

In the end, Samantha decided on trying to get the dog to jump through her window. First, she knew she would need some fresh towels to dry him off, so that is what she quickly ran to get.

She then placed one spread out underneath the window and opened it up wide.

"Holy crap!" she gasped as the bitter wind clawed at her eagerly.

She hoped the dog would not take too long to coax into her room. She whistled as best she could, trying to catch his attention.

"Here, Doggy! Come over here!" Sam called, her voice shaking from the chill of the outside world.

To her delight, the rain-slicked mass of fur bounded over to her, loping up the steps and then skidding to a stop.

He shook himself off of what seemed like a whole lake's worth of excess water before sitting and looking up at her expectantly with those intelligent grey eyes.

"Okay, listen here doggy woggy, I'm going to let you in, but you have to be really super quiet, okay?"

She was under no illusions that the dog could understand what she was saying, but Sam felt that there was no harm in trying; after all, she could be dealing with an incredibly smart dog.

With that in mind, she backed away, clearing a space to allow him to leap in.

With an easy jump he landed on the clean towel. Sam hurriedly pulled the window shut and turned to face her new, temporary roommate.

"Well," she began, "We'd better get you dried off."

She plucked up another fluffy towel and rubbed it over him, making short work of removing the extra moisture. When she was moving the cloth over his neck, he stuck his tongue out, catching her cheek with it and causing her to laugh.

"Eww," she chuckled.

Sam then tossed the damp towel to the side and stood up, "There! All done."

She looked around the room and then settled her gaze back on the dog,

"What now…?" she wondered.

The dog decided for her, strolling over and leaping up her bed, getting himself quite comfortable and getting a loud sigh from her.

"Sure," she grumbled, "you can jump on my bed; I don't mind having dog fur everywhere."

She climbed onto her bed, gently pushing him over, "Jeepers, move over, ya big lump, make some room."

It was his turn to grumble, or at least to do the dog equivalent of grumbling, but nevertheless he shuffled over a bit for her.

"_Thank you_," she said, getting herself comfortable and pulling her laptop close. After a moment of staring blankly at the screen, she decided that she didn't feel like reading on her laptop anymore.

She reached over to her side table and pulled out the first Harry Potter book, wanting to start reading the series again.

The heavy weight of the dog beside her pinned the blankets to her as he scooted closer, his head tilting inquisitively at the sight of the book.

Samantha Perrick cracked open her favourite book to the first page but, as she went to turn to the second, the large black dog sitting next to her just happened to lift one of his paws, coming into contact with her and the book.

And then there was light.

**AN: Hey, so basically, one of my goals is to have Sam mention as many fanfic cliches as i can, so if you have anything that you would like mentioned or if you want her to quote a movie or something, then please let me know in a review, as well as telling me what you think about everything so far ;) **


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Yay for reviews! I am really excited for this story, but i thought i'd just make some things clear :P**

**For example, this story is just for fun, that's why i will probably not go into all the sad and angsty details of peoples reactions to Sirius being back or Sirius' reaction to being there. Honestly, Sirius would be totally messed up, finding himself in a different time, with people he doesn't know. He would be expecting to see James, Remus and Peter around and then have to realise that they're all dead. Its too sad and i don't want this to be sad, so yeah, sorry for the unrealistic stuffs.**

**Also, for the purpose of moving the story along and stopping myself from repeating lots, Sam is gonna be super chill with everything, she will accept her new life easily. Yeah, this is also me being lazy, i don't want to write her being in denial for ages or something :P**

**Anyways, enjoy ;)**

She was being blinded, burned, pulled and twisted. She was flying, she was suffocating and then…she wasn't.

_THUD_

Samantha and the dog landed hard on the ground.

"Ow," she moaned from her sprawled position, clenching her eyes shut against the light pounding into her eyelids. A cool breeze then tugged playfully at the loose strands of her hair and brought her the scent of fresh grass.

_I'm outside? How can I be outside? _She thought, confusedly,_ And what happened to the storm?_

A whine sounded from somewhere beside her, she cracked her blue eyes open and forced them to adjust to the light and to find the noise. The dog was sitting and staring at her expectantly.

_I must've fallen asleep; this _has_ to be a dream._

Sam slowly sat up, taking in the peaceful surroundings. She was on a grass-covered hill and as she looked down it, she felt a bolt of surprise kick her heart.

She stared intently at the crooked house visible in the distance. She had never actually seen it before, but she would know it anywhere.

_The Burrow!_

* * *

While strolling down the rather steep hill, one of Sam's feet got a bit confused and tripped her and, with a loud yell, Sam found herself descending the knoll at an unwillingly fast pace.

At the end of her jarring journey, she was quite battered and sore, but at least she had moved a fair distance.

Sam forced herself into a standing position and glanced back up to where she had come from, the dog was sprinting towards her with apparent ease, _lucky thing_.

_Well, judging by the pain, I can safely say that I am _not_ dreaming. And…I don't _feel_ insane…I guess the only explanation is that this _is_ real._

How it could be, she had no idea. Despite the seeming impossibility of it all, excitement built swiftly and ran rampant through her, soaking her with its happy energy. She felt like she could run the whole way to the Burrow.

* * *

After two minutes of running, Sam fell to her knees.

"Agh," she complained, "Why is running so hard?"

A blur of black moved swiftly past her.

"Hey! That's not fair! Stop showing off!" she called after him.

He halted, turning back to her and barking excitedly, encouraging her keep going.

"Fine," she grumbled, forcing herself to stand once more.

After a further ten, painful minutes, Sam found herself standing before a lopsided sign that confirmed what she already knew. She was in the front yard of the Burrow.

She waited a moment, letting the total awesomeness of the situation soak in. Nausea suddenly overtook her.

_Oh, jeepers! I can't go in there! That's the Weasley's house! They'll have no idea who I am; they'll think I'm psycho Harry Potter fangirl!_

She sunk to the grass, feeling panic threaten to overwhelm her like a tidal wave.

_Oh no, I _am_ a psycho Harry Potter fangirl…_

"Hello, dear, who might you be?"

It was then that Sam noticed the shadow that had fallen over her. Her head snapped up at the sound of the sudden voice and her eyes met with those of a plump and kindly looking older lady.

"Mrs Weasley?" Sam breathed, unsure if she should be scared or relieved.

The witch gave a warm chuckle, "No, dear, I think you'll find that _I'm_ Mrs Weasley."

Sam could have smacked herself in the forehead for walking straight into that one, but, she decided to blame her slow wit on the shock of being in some sort of parallel universe.

"Right," she blushed, "well, I'm Samantha Perrick."

Mrs Weasley smiled at her, offering a hand up while asking,

"And where have you come from, Samantha? Did you get lost while visiting someone in the area?"

Sam, with the aid of Mrs Weasley, managed to put her shaky legs back in proper order. _I can't believe this is happening!_ She chanted silently while she replied to her new acquaintance,

"I came from a different reality."

_Wow, that came out so casually, how did I do that?_

Mrs Weasley's welcoming smile faltered, she quickly ran her eyes over Sam as if checking to make sure she was all there. Her eyes fell onto the dog at Sam's side, he was staring intently at her, she gasped,

"Oh my! h-he looks…like…like Sirius did!"

Abruptly, a strange feeling of peace enveloped Sam and she knew she had to get this next part right, this was a moment that called for a pinch of drama. She addressed Mrs Weasley firmly, commanding her attention before locking their gazes and uttering a profound statement,

"He looks like Sirius, because he _is_ Sirius,"

Sam then restrained herself from adding, _I'm Sirius about this._ She also contained her facial features, trying to stop the grin that threatened to show itself.

Mrs Weasley tried several times to form some sort of sentence but, it seemed as if her words had deserted her.

In the end, she just resorted to just gesturing for the two to follow her into the house.

Sam quickly ran her fingers through her hair, attempting to remove all of the grass that had tried to become her new hair accessories.

She knew she must look quite a fright and hoped that no-one would notice the green stains and mud on her jeans and pale blue hoodie.

"Who's that? And what happened to her hair and clothes?" someone asked, almost as soon as Sam had stepped through the doorway and into the cramped kitchen.

Ah, the panic was back in full swing now. There was what seemed like hundreds of red-headed people in the room, and they all had their attention focussed on her.

She lifted a hand in an awkward wave and said,

"Uh, hi, I'm Samantha Perrick. This dog and I are from a different reality, I hope that's alright with you."

Stunned silence. It was broken by a tall man that was standing in the doorway that led to the sitting room.

"She can't be serious!" he exclaimed and judging by his missing ear, Sam guessed him to be George Weasley.

Sam couldn't hold it back, "I'm not Sirius, he is," she said, pointing at the big black canine.

It seemed that no-one else had noticed him up until that point. There was a round of gasping, spluttering and disbelieving protestations, Sam found them vastly amusing.

She used the time to quickly deduce who was there, she found; Bill, George, Ron, Mr Weasley, and Percy.

She wondered where the women and children of the Weasley clan were hiding, and of course Harry, Sam really wanted to see him.

A woman with bushy brown hair pushed her way into the room and past George, she was followed by a woman that could only be Fleur Weasley and two other women as well, whom Sam guessed were Angelina and Audrey Weasley.

Angelina raised her voice above all the chatter in a very attention-grabbing way,

"WHAT IN MERLIN'S NAME IS WITH ALL THE YELLING?"

Then there was a lot of gaping and pointing. Sam was embarrassed to have everyone pointing at her but she was saved by the unexpected flaring to life of the fireplace.

The emerald-green flames spat out several people in quick succession and as they dusted themselves off, Sam recognised them as Harry and Ginny Potter.

Sam didn't get a good look at the two teenagers that had also arrived with them, but she figured they were likely to be Albus Severus and Lily Luna.

An awkward silence spread over the occupants of the room, Harry's face had a clear case of 'What the hell is going on?'

Everyone jumped an inch when a loud bark suddenly sounded from the forgotten-again dog sitting next to Sam.

* * *

"Explain it again," demanded Harry.

Sam was sitting at the scrubbed wooden table in the middle of the kitchen; the other seven seats were occupied by Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Mr and Mrs Weasley, and Bill.

'The Boy Who Lived' was across from her and flanked by his two best friends.

The novelty of meeting her some of her favourite book characters had worn off somewhat during the past two hours. Sam supposed that that would happen when one was forced to repeat themselves many times over.

She gave a loud sigh but nevertheless, she recounted her story of how she met the dog, how they touched the book and how they arrived there.

She had already explained about her theories of alternate worlds and how in hers, they were all fictional characters, she could understand that it was a lot for them to take in but she just wanted to find her place here and get on with it.

Sam waited as they broke into a discussion yet again; she let her thoughts drift around and found herself wondering where Albus, Lily and the other Wotter children had disappeared off to.

_Will this lot notice if I leave?_

She glanced about, plotting a way to get around all of the seated people and those who were standing.

"- there's a way to prove her story, Harry."

_Wait, what was that?_ Sam forced herself to listen to the conversation.

"I did think about that, Hermione, but will it…will it hurt him?" Harry asked, risking a quick look at the dog sitting on the floor beside Sam's chair.

A sympathetic expression settled on Hermione's face as she watched her best friend closely, "No, I don't think it will."

That seemed to decide it for everyone; Hermione stood up then and pointed her wand at the 'dog'. He grew distressed and tried to back away; Sam turned in her seat and reached out to pet the soft fur on his head.

"It's going to be alright," she said as comfortingly as she could, before backing up a bit and silently hoping that she would not be proven a liar.

Hermione's wand emitted a flash of blue light towards him and, when everyone's eyes adjusted, they noticed the tall, sixteen year old boy standing where the dog had previously been.

The eyes were the same, grey, intelligent and fathomless. His hair was a short shaggy mop of soft black and almost fell into his eyes, giving his aristocratic features a more casual look.

Sam's first thought was, _Dayum! _

She only just managed to suppress the low whistle of appreciation that wanted to make itself known.

Sirius Black was a very good-looking bloke, even when he was wearing battered robes that were a few sizes too big for him.

In the ensuing madness that followed the transformation, Sam could have easily slipped out into another room or even outside, but, after seeing the look of pure desperation in those grey eyes, she couldn't just abandon him to a room full of people he hardly knew, well, it's more like people he couldn't remember.

There was an awful lot of hugging going on, and in many cases, crying. Sam could understand, she felt like she was intruding however and so edged the corner of the room and just watched the happy reunion, thinking about how odd this all must be for poor ol' Mr Doggy Woggy.

He was currently in the vice like grip of a tearful Ginny and looking to be trying to find a way to extract himself before he was killed by her.

* * *

After a quarter-hour of watching the large family interact with a clearly overwhelmed Sirius, Sam decided to step in, but, she then found that she didn't have to. Mrs Weasley was then ordering everyone to back off and give him some space.

The huge group all headed out into the back yard and Sam discovered where all of the kids were. Apparently it was the Weasley's mid-summer get together and the kids had been de-gnoming and tidying the garden in preparation.

As she followed everyone into the fenced off area, she could see a girl about her age, with bushy red hair. The girl was carefully arranging cutlery on the long table.

_That must be Rose_.

Sam mentally made a list of who should be there, looked around and tried to check off the ones she knew.

_That one must be Louis,_ she decided, _he's the only blonde guy here…and he's really pretty._ _Oh, that one there must be Victoire because she's making goo-goo eyes at… holy cow, Teddy's super cute!_

The twenty-four year old metamorphmagus currently had very…vibrant blue hair. Sam had to tear her eyes away from the intriguing colour and cast her eyes about again.

_That one has to be Dominique then_, Sam deduced, studying the other girl with the silvery blonde hair before spying another pair of red heads. She laughed inwardly; _oh, that one _has_ to be Freddy! And he's gonna make young Hugo _so_ mad._

She watched as Hugo discovered the slime that now coated his hair and punched Freddy in the arm.

_Yup, Hugo Smash!_

The two teenagers ran past a bored looking girl with long red hair and brown eyes, she was making a chain of white and yellow flowers.

_Hello, Lily Luna._

Two other redheads, whom Sam guessed to be sisters, sat themselves next to Lily. The older one, Molly, then flopped back onto the grass and mumbled something about James being lucky that he was too busy to come to the gathering.

The adults dispersed around the area, breaking into groups and chatting, but Sam didn't quite know where to go and detected that Sirius felt the same.

She spied a large pond off to the side and headed towards it. Sirius trailed behind her, wanting to stay close to the only person he felt he knew.

They sat down and Sam had to force herself to not stare at him or badger him with questions, she needed to respect his need for space. Luckily there was some drama to distract her, _ooh, someone's not happy._

A dark-haired girl, who seemed to be around Sam's age, was glaring at Rose, apparently disagreeing about something.

Rose appeared to have had enough of the conversation and stomped away from the table and the girl, marching straight over to Sam and Sirius.

_Oh no, why is she coming over? What do I do?_ Sam exchanged a worried glance with the boy next to her, he just shrugged_, you're a lot of help, aren't you? _

Rose was now standing before them; she soon collapsed into a sitting position however and let out a frustrated sigh,

"Agh, Roxanne is _such_ a cow!"

Well at least now, Sam knew which one was Roxanne. She cleared her throat, feeling that Rose needed a response,

"So, what happened?"

Sam wasn't sure if that was the right thing to ask, as it caused Rose to launch into a loud and very rage-filled tirade. While Rose ranted, Sam studied Roxanne and noticed yet another girl.

She seemed to be trying to soothe Roxanne, who was as worked up as Rose was.

"I bet Lucy's on her side now," Rose said bitterly, "this is so stupid, why couldn't she have just left me alone?"

For what felt like the millionth time that day, Sam felt uncertain of what she should do, she wondered if it would become a permanent state for her.

"Uh," she floundered, "don't worry about it."

Rose's piercing blue eyes turned to Sam for the first time, surprise was spreading over her features and she asked,

"Who are you and what makes you say that?"

_Time to make a friend_, Sam thought before replying with more confidence,

"I'm Samantha Perrick and you don't have to worry, I'll be on your side."

A bright grin, one to rival the sun in fact, crept onto Rose's face.

"On my side?" she questioned, "I like the sound of that…I'm Rose, by the way,"

She stuck out her hand and Sam shook it.

"It's nice to meet you, Rose. This is my friend, Sirius Black" she introduced, gesturing to him and trying not to giggle.

She never thought she would ever say those words; _Sirius Black is my friend…oh snap, is he? I never asked or anything!_

Feeling frantic, Sam turned her attention to him. He beamed brilliantly at the two of them, leading Sam to have the impression that she hadn't lied to Rose. _Yay._

Relief calmed her nerves then and the three settled into an easy conversation, it mostly revolved around Sam and Sirius recounting their story, _again_.

Rose was very interested in the whole idea and even cited some books that might help explain it all. She stopped mid-sentence, spotting one of her favourite cousins,

"Oi, Al! Where have you been hiding?"

Her sharp question was directed at a teenager with untidy jet black hair and bright green eyes. He made his way over to them, shrugging in answer to Rose's question.

Introductions were made and, to Sam and Sirius' great relief, Rose took over the re-telling of their story.

Sam decided that the near instant bond that formed between Albus and Sirius, was more about the fact that they were of the same age and gender, rather than anything else.

Albus was a quiet type and very unlike his older brother James or the James that Sirius had been best friends with but nevertheless, a strange new friendship was born.

* * *

By the time dinner rolled around, Samantha had been properly introduced to everyone present. The large family was sitting at the long table, enjoying a hearty meal and the crisp summer air.

Sam was worried for Sirius, knowing it was a heck of a lot for him to take in. She made sure to keep sending him reassuring smiles, thankfully, Albus was perceptive enough to try and help Sirius' adjustment.

Al chattered to him about what Hogwarts was like now and Sirius was disappointed to hear that Professor McGonagall had left a few years ago,

"It would have been nice to see ol' Minnie again," he said wistfully, "though terrorising her probably wouldn't have been same without…without James and Remus."

Sam, who was seated between Rose and Sirius, felt a heavy ache in her chest, _poor baby, if I knew him a bit better and knew it wouldn't creep him out; I would give him a hug._

She settled for giving him a quick pat on the back of his hand and tried to change the subject a little and address something that had been worrying her,

"What's going to happen to me? Do I get to go to Hogwarts?" she asked anyone who was listening.

Hermione, who was across from her, answered,

"I've talked with Ron and we've decided that you can come and live with us…if you want to."

Sam shared an excited glance with Rose and let happiness free within herself,

"Really? I would love that!" she practically squealed.

Hermione gave her a kind smile, "We'd love to have you and I'm sure Rose wouldn't mind having another girl around, especially one her age."

"This is great!" Rose exclaimed, "And I can help her prepare for school too!"

"Of course you'd think of that, Rose," Sam chuckled, "Wait…does that mean I get to go to Hogwarts?"

The adults that had been listening to the conversation exchanged looks before Hermione answered,

"I should think so, after all, soul bonds can only occur between two people of magical blood, but we can't be sure if it's enough to get you to Hogwarts. We won't know for sure until we go to Diagon Alley."

Sam felt heat rush to her face and turn her fair cheeks pink, she had forgotten about whole 'soul bond' thing. Sirius turned to look at her; a speculative expression on his face but Sam refused to look at him.

"I wonder what house you'll be in, do you have any idea?" Rose inquired of Sam.

_Hmm…_, "I have no idea at all, probably Hufflepuff or something," she shrugged.

"Well, as long as you're not in Slytherin," Sirius said, a hint of darkness in his tone.

"Hey!" interjected Albus, "My best friend is in Slytherin!"

Sirius had the grace to look at least a little shamefaced, "Sorry, but I don't think I'll ever get used to the 'Not all Slytherins are bad' thing."

Albus grinned at his new friend, "That's alright, they're all prats anyway, especially my mate, Scorpius."

**AN: Yeah, so just for this fic, Albus is not a Slytherin, though personally i think he probably would be. Anyway, how's this chapter? ;) Anything you want referenced in the future? Did you see the Hulk reference? ;) **

**Haha yeah the Sirius/Serious pun is overdone, but i siriusly couldn't resist and i will never try ;)**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: I'm sorry, not just because its been awhile since i updated but because I shoved a whole lot of characters at you in the last chapter, forgetting that some of you might know who everyone's canon kids are and such. I have tweaked the ages a little bit though.**

**So basically:**

**Bill+Fleur=Victoire (22), Dominique (20) and Louis (17)**

**Percy+Audrey=Molly II (17) and Lucy (16)**

**George+Angelina=Fred II (19) and Roxanne (16)**

**Ron+Hermione=Rose (16) and Hugo (14)**

**Ginny+Harry=James (19), Albus (16) and Lily (14)**

**And theres Teddy Lupin (24) as well :D**

**YES-the characters reactions are not very realistic but like i said in the previous chapter, its just to move the story along faster, denial is boring :D**

**And now I will bore you all with another chapter, it includes describing some stuff so I hope it's not too boring and terrible. ALSO, (yes these ANs are getting ridiculous) um, the house has Muggle appliances and such because i think Hermione would want to integrate both worlds and have her kids well adjusted to everything.**

**I've had to research a bit for this chapter; my source is the Hp-lexicon, if you wanted to know ;) While i did attempt researching, i'm still not 100% sure on some things, so forgive me if i've stuffed up :P**

The rest of the evening went smoothly and amicably. Sam had learnt more about what the people in the "Wotter" clan were up to. Percy, she had found, was the Minister for Magic, _Good for him_, she thought.

She had also learnt that James Potter had been unable to attend the gathering because he was at a Puddlemere United Quidditch training session.

Victoire and Dominique had told Sam about the clothing shop they were going to start up within the next year and Freddie had mentioned his intentions to work at his father's shop.

It was then decided, as everyone was preparing to leave, that Sirius would live in Harry and Ginny's guest room and when Sirius seemed a little unsure about it all, Samantha whispered to him,

"It'll be fine, besides, if you get annoyed at Harry, you can always tell him off."

Sirius raised his eyebrows sceptically.

"Yeah," Sam confirmed, "After all, you _are_ his Godfather."

His expression went from one of complete incredulity, to one of wicked glee,

"Really?" he asked, before shaking his head in amusement, "James, what were you thinking?"

* * *

Sam stood nervously in front of the Weasley's fireplace; she really did not want to try travel by Floo powder.

Thoughts of when Harry epically failed in the second book, swirled to the forefront of her mind, _Agh, I don't wanna do this_.

She could feel that her palms were gathering dampness, her heart was pumping faster and her breathing was coming in many shallow puffs. She strained to take in every detail of the scene before her.

Rose was taking a small handful of the silver powder from a flowerpot on the mantle, she then threw the substance into the flames, stepped into them and shouted her address in a clear voice. She was gone a moment later.

Sam repeated the address over and over in her mind, dreading what could happen if she got it wrong.

Hermione placed a comforting hand on Sam's shoulder and nodded for her to copy Rose's actions.

With an unsteady hand, Sam reached and grabbed some of the powder, tossing it, as Rose had done, into the fireplace. When the fire burned brilliant emerald, Sam shakily stepped in and yelled the address in as clear a voice as she could manage while trying not to cough violently.

She clenched her jaw, kept her limbs tucked in close and squeezed her eyes tight. The sensation was akin to flying. Even if she had wanted to open her eyes to see the rushing past of the other fireplaces, Sam wouldn't have been able to.

Abruptly, she realised she was no longer in motion.

"Hurry up, Sam," admonished Rose, reaching out and grabbing Sam's arm.

She was pulled out of the fireplace just in time; the bright green flames produced Hugo then and he was quickly followed by his mother and father.

"You can open your eyes now," Rose laughed.

"Oh, right," mumbled Sam as she did so, "Wow, nice place you got here."

They were standing in a spacious, yet cosy sitting room; it had a comfortable looking three person couch and two large armchairs, as well as a huge TV and two full bookshelves.

"Rose," Hermione said, drawing her daughter's attention, "Why don't you show Sam the rest of the house and where her room is?"

The red haired girl beamed at Sam and dragged her through one of the doorways and into the kitchen and dining room area.

This section of the house was nice and open plan, the kitchen looked to be fitted out with many Muggle appliances and the bench, chairs and dining table were made of a highly polished dark wood.

Rose explained the function of a few of the more magical items laying about the room as they headed to a hallway that branched off from the dining room.

The master bedroom and the library/study was down the passage and both rooms had a warm, dark colour scheme.

Sam was then pulled back into the dining area and this time Rose took her past the kitchen, through the door and outside.

They were on the back porch, it seemed to run along the wall of the kitchen and the dining room and gave a lovely place to sit and enjoy the picturesque garden.

With every new part she was shown, Sam began to love the house even more.

They returned to the sitting room and Rose remembered that she still had to show Sam where the other bedrooms were, so she headed over to the staircase close to the fireplace.

"Wow, I didn't even notice the stairs before," commented Sam as she began to follow Rose.

"Nobody ever does…" Rose shook her head in mock sadness.

Sam didn't even make it two steps up before she stumbled and fell forward. She patted the wooden stair,

"I'm sorry for not noticing you, Mr Staircase," she apologised.

She straightened up and tried again to ascend the stairs, only to fall again.

"Mrs Staircase, then?" she asked, getting a little annoyed as she decided it would be best to just crawl up the stairs.

Her hands and knees hurt but at least she had reached the landing without further incident.

She turned her head and found herself staring at a white door that was labelled, 'Rose' and as she stood up and took a stride towards it, she looked to her right and noticed another three doors further down the hallway.

"This is my room," Rose said, stating the obvious and gesturing to the door, acting as if she hadn't seen her new friend's awkward climbing of the stairs.

Rose then pointed to the second door as they passed it, "That's Hugo's."

"And that's our bathroom," she acknowledged the third door.

Finally they came to the door at the end and she pushed it open,

"This one will be yours," she announced with a grin.

Sam cautiously walked inside and found herself greeted by a room decorated in soothing pale blue tones.

There was a comfortable looking bed in the far corner and a neat bedside table with a blue lamp on it, a set of large white drawers, and in the corner nearest to them, there was a desk and chair ready to be used.

"Wow!" she exclaimed happily, "I bet this room gets a lot of natural sunlight!"

* * *

Sam and Rose were sitting on the light blue blanket on Sam's bed, both dressed in their pyjamas and procrastinating because Sam didn't want to go to sleep, worried that she might wake up and find herself at her own house.

She was wearing a pair of Rose's pajamas as she had no other clothes of her own there and she and Rose were about the same size, though Rose was a bit taller and so Sam needed to roll up the pyjamas' legs a few times.

They were planning on going clothes shopping the next day.

"So," she began, "What's gonna happen if I _can_ go to Hogwarts with you lot this year?"

Sam had a sudden thought, "Wait, I'm not going to have to go with all the first years on those little boats am I?"

Panic started to grow, "Will I have to be sorted in front of everyone as well?"

Rose had a contemplative expression as she said, "I'm not sure, I suppose we could get my mum to arrange a private sorting for you."

Sam gave a relieved smile, "That would be great, I don't fancy embarrassing myself in front of the whole school."

Hermione then poked her head in the room, telling Rose to leave Sam to sleep. Before Hermione could leave, Rose and Sam made their case and got her to agree to try to get Sam a separate sorting.

Sam felt odd as she snuggled under her blankets, it wasn't because she was uncomfortable, but because she was alone for the first time that day.

_It's been a long day_; she thought as she struggled to stay awake, _has this all been in my head? Will I still be here when I wake up?_

* * *

One minute, she was sleeping peacefully and in the next, something was squishing her and telling her to wake up. It was Rose.

_Agh, why is she so awake? Oh, no! I've made friends with a morning person! _

"Hurry up, lazybones," chirped Rose, "the sun is up, that means you have to be up too."

"Who made up that rule?" Sam complained as she unceremoniously shoved the other girl to the floor and pulled the blanket over her own head.

"Sammy," pouted Rose, doing a very good impression of a two year old.

Sam sat up then and the blanket fell down, revealing her birds-nest of blonde hair,

"I didn't make up that rule," she declared in a serious tone before laughing manically like a villain.

"Sorry," she gasped between fits of laughter, "I've been waiting to say something like that since the whole 'Mrs Weasley' thing yesterday!"

Rose didn't quite understand but laughed anyway, her friend's amusement proving too contagious.

It took several more minutes for them to quieten down.

"Okay, okay," Sam said, arranging her features into an expression of tranquillity, "I'm calm now…and awake."

"Good," Rose announced, "Now can you hurry up and get ready for the day?"

"Yes, your highness," agreed Sam, pulling off the blankets.

She stood somewhat unsteadily for a moment before looking around confusedly for something to wear.

"Oh, that's right," Rose spoke up, "Mum washed your clothes from yesterday, I'll go get them for you."

The red headed girl flounced out of the room, returned a minute later with Sam's clean clothes and then left again so Sam could have some privacy.

Sam re-made the bed, changed into her jeans and pale blue hoodie and folded up the borrowed pyjamas.

Deciding to copy Rose, she flounced out of her new bedroom. Unfortunately for her, Sam didn't possess her friend's natural grace and she ended up falling over and narrowly avoided smacking her head on the door handle.

"I'm so glad nobody saw that," she muttered as she picked herself back up and pulled open the door.

Rose was waiting for her in the hallway, "You tripped over, didn't you?"

Sam tried her best to look cryptic as she replied, "Maybe I did but maybe I didn't."

"Right," Rose drawled while staring at her with suspicion, "Well, anyway, let's go have breakfast."

And so they did.

* * *

They had been walking for three hours already.

"My feet hurt," Sam moaned, "I think I've had enough shopping for now."

Hermione, who had been a few steps ahead of her and Rose and laden with many bags, turned back to them and raised an eyebrow.

"Really?" she questioned, "Well, I think our next stop might liven you up a bit."

That did catch the teenager's interest, "What _is_ our next stop then?"

Rose glanced around the busy street for a moment before the light of understanding lit her face,

"Oh," she said before beaming excitedly, "I know where we're going."

The three of them then stopped and Hermione and Rose stared over at the shops the lined the road. Sam's blue eyes followed the direction of their eyes, and missed the way the two quickly looked back at her with concern.

"Oh…my…gosh," Sam breathed as she took in the shabby looking building.

It had a wooden sign dangling over the entrance that declared it to be The Leaky Cauldron.

Hermione let out a sigh of relief, "That's good, you can see it."

While Sam was distracted by the famous building, Rose whispered to her mum,

"But she could still be a squib; we're not going to know anything for sure until we look at wands."

The older woman nodded, "We'll just have to wait and see."

* * *

Diagon Alley was full to the brim of witches and wizards of every height, shape and colour, they bustled along the busy street wearing brightly coloured robes and pointed hats, chattering away as they made their way into the various shops and brought the things that they needed.

Hermione, Rose and Sam's first stop had of course been the wizarding bank, Gringotts. Hermione had set up a vault for Sam and had put in a very generous donation.

Sadly for Sam, the trip to the bank had not required a ride in the infamous Gringotts carts, she had been very much looking forward to having a go at them and only cheered up once she realised that they would be looking at wands soon after they left.

That was where they were now and Sam couldn't believe it; she was standing in front of Ollivander's!

Her mind swam with the names of all the people who had come before, the people, both good and evil, who had purchased their wands from this very shop.

She was about to have a fangirl meltdown.

The shop itself was shabby, narrow and owned now by Jambol Hardings, the middle-aged man who had become the apprentice of Garrick Ollivander when, after the Second Wizarding War, the old man had decided to pass on his knowledge of wandlore.

In order to get her to stop practically salivating on the window display, Rose had to awkwardly push and pull her new friend and it took her several minutes to get the blonde into the actual shop.

The walls inside the building were lined from floor to ceiling with thousands of slender boxes, each one containing a wand.

Facing away from them and leaning against the counter at the back of the room, was Mr Hardings and he was waving his wand about, appearing to be re-arranging some of the wand boxes on the back wall.

As they moved further into the shop, he turned around.

"Hello," he greeted cheerfully, "What can I do for you today?"

They approached the counter and Hermione spoke up,

"We're looking to see if there is a wand for Samantha, she's new around here."

Mr Hardings warm brown eyes turned to Sam.

"First wand?" he asked, curiously.

"That's right," she answered a little nervously.

With a flick of his wand, Mr Hardings instructed a nearby measuring tape to get to work, while he turned back to the shelves of wands.

The tape flittered about Sam, measuring her arm length, leg length, the circumference of her head as well as just about everything else, including the distance between her eyes.

"How old are you?" the wizard inquired.

Sam had to think a bit before replying, "I'm sixteen."

He paused in his perusal of the many boxes and turned his head to face her, "Really? Hmm…"

_Please say, 'I wonder…' in a dramatic way,_ Sam thought; hoping this scene would be similar to when Harry got _his_ wand.

Mr Hardings shuffled along, tapping his fingers across some of the boxes and humming in thought.

"I wonder…" he muttered.

Sam fought the urge to do a happy dance.

Mr Hardings pulled out a dusty box and placed it on the counter.

"I haven't been able to open this one in many years, it's waiting for someone special I think, why don't you give it a try?"

Sam reached out and picked up the box, managing to lift its lid easily. She then examined the wand that had been nestled inside.

"It's Laurel, twelve and three quarter inches, quite flexible and with a dragon heartstring core," stated the wizard.

"Holy crap!" Sam squealed, literally jumping for joy, "It's the same!"

Mr Hardings frowned while Hermione and Rose merely raised their eyebrows.

"The same?" asked Mr Hardings.

Sam didn't even look up from the wand as she answered excitedly, "It's the same wand that I got when I took the test on Pottermore!"

She pulled it out and immediately felt a strange warmth spread through her fingers and up her arm, encompassing her whole body and making her feel as though she could do anything.

Sam didn't remember much of what followed as she was too intent on the item she was holding. She figured that Hermione must have brought the wand for her and they all must have left Diagon Alley because now, she realised, she was back at Rose's house.

She was sitting on the couch and still staring the wand, when she heard a faint conversation between Hermione and Rose.

"It's a bit odd," Hermione was agreeing, "but I'm sure she'll snap out of it soon enough."

"Why is she being so weird though, Mum? It's kind of freaking me out."

Those words shook Sam from her daze and enabled her to stand up, pocket her new wand and slap a bright smile onto her face.

"Rose!" she called, "Why don't you tell me all about the classes that you're going to take this year?"

_Yes! That'll make her happy_, Sam inwardly praised her own niceness, _Rose loves explaining stuff and school work!_

* * *

Rose had been animatedly chattering away for two hours and for those two hours, Sam had been trying her best to keep her expression one that would tell Rose that she had been listening, though that wasn't necessarily the case…

"- and then there's Arithmancy. Oh, it's wonderful! It's my favourite subject! It's a branch of magic that-"

The bushy haired girl was interrupted when a handsome barn owl suddenly appeared at the window. Rose stood up from her seat in the armchair and moved over to the window to let the bird in.

After its letter had been detached, the owl took off and left Rose to go and hand the folded parchment to Hermione.

Sam used the moment of quiet to shake herself around, trying in vain to get her brain to pay more attention; it wouldn't be good manners for her to fall asleep when Rose resumes her one-sided discussion on the subjects available at Hogwarts.

To her surprise, both daughter _and_ mother came back into the sitting room. Hermione held the now open letter and sat down, looking at Sam as she spoke,

"This was from the Ministry. If you remember, Percy is the Minister, and he has arranged a meeting for you and I to see him and the Headmaster of Hogwarts."

Sam frowned, "Why though?"

"It's nothing bad," Hermione reassured, "We just want to work out a few things and do some paper work."

"Okay," Sam said uncertainly, "When is this meeting?"

Hermione glanced down at the letter, "Four thirty...so you still have another two hours to just relax."

Rose plonked herself down at the other end of the couch as her mother left the room.

"Right," she said, "Where was I? Hmm…oh yeah, Arithmancy-"

* * *

Sam was so glad that Hermione was with her as she sat in the Minister for Magic's office. While the Minister was Percy Weasley, whom she had met already, Sam was still incredibly nervous about being in so formal a setting.

The chair she was in was made of dark leather and was highly uncomfortable, Hermione sat in an identical chair beside her.

The room was devoid of all sound but for the scratching of the Minister's quill, the silence was, like the chair, highly uncomfortable and Sam couldn't wait to leave it.

There was a knock at the door.

_Finally_, Sam wanted to yell.

"Enter," Percy called calmly.

The door swung open and the Minister's secretary stepped in.

"Drydin Dwent, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is here now, Sir," she announced.

Percy nodded in acknowledgement, "Send him in."

The secretary's tall and slim figure retreated and was replaced by a short and stocky man with sparkling green eyes and a mop of greying ginger hair.

"So sorry to keep you all waiting," he apologised jovially as he walked further into the room and took his seat.

He was beside Sam and sprawled in the chair as if it were the most comfortable place he had ever sat, he even let out a loud, contented sigh.

_What an odd man… _

"So, Percy Jackson, what are we starting with?" Drydin asked, grinning.

The Minister winced, "Dwent, how many times have I told you? My name is Percy _Weasley_, _not_ Percy _Jackson_."

The Headmaster waved away the matter with a lazy movement of his large hand,

"Oh, I'm sorry," he rolled his eyes.

Percy glared at the other man for a moment longer before clearing his throat,

"Drydin Dwent, this is Hermione Weasley and Samantha Perrick."

When Drydin turned his suddenly intent gaze to her, Sam didn't feel at all awkward or creeped out. _Maybe that's his superpower…_

"Hmm," he said, "I certainly was intrigued when I heard about you, Miss Perrick. Mr Jackson over there didn't give me all that much information however."

Sam struggled against a smile as she noticed Percy tensing in annoyance.

"I have since," Percy started, "found out more about the situation."

Drydin raised an eyebrow in challenge and Percy continued,

"My people have deduced that Samantha's real name is Stella Zorintha Iliana Novawat and-"

"What?" a laughing Sam interjected, "That's a ridiculously Mary Sueish name; I'll stay as Samantha Faith Perrick, thanks."

Hermione coughed, it was her really bad attempt at both covering her laughter and warning Sam that she just interrupted the Minister for Magic himself.

The young blonde schooled her features and nodded for the man to go on.

"As I was saying, we have found out, through records of your disappearance sixteen years ago, who you are and who your family was-"

_Was_, she thought as a sinking feeling claimed her heart, _that sucks_.

"-It appears that you are the last of your line, the rest of the Novawat family were killed many years ago. Now, how do you feel about having Mrs Hermione Weasley and Mr Ron Weasley as your legal guardians?"

"I couldn't think of better people," Sam answered truthfully.

"Come on now," the man beside her began, "Let's get to more important stuff!"

To Sam, it seemed as if Percy was struggling to stop himself from rolling his eyes.

"Yes," Hermione spoke up, "How will her education be affected? She's missed out on five years already, and her OWLs too. I don't see how she can begin her schooling now, it doesn't make any sense."

"Now, now, my dear," Drydin said comfortingly, "It'll all work out, I'm sure Miss Perrick here already knows a surprising amount and then there is also the vast number of Weasleys to help her with everything, including your daughter Rose, am I right?"

Sam brightened at the mention of her friend and Hermione simply nodded.

"See?" Drydin went on, "She will be fine starting in her sixth year and there are plenty of students and teachers willing to help her. I'm sure you will do your best to help her as well, Mrs Weasley."

"Of course," Hermione agreed, "I can give her a crash course in basic spells during the next few weeks."

"Excellent," the Headmaster said as he gained his feet, "And now for the part we've all been waiting for…Samantha Perrick, it's time to get you _Sorted_!"

**AN: Dun dun duh! Hehe, what house will she be Sorted into? What do we think of Drydin Dwent? How's everything going so far? **

**Also, not sure if anyone noticed...but there was a rather obscure Hermione quote in this chapter, and its not said by Hermione this time, did anyone see it? I bet you can't find it ;)**


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Yay! A new chapter! Happy!**

**So, this is my favourite chapter, i had so much fun writing it. Keep an eye out for references... ;)**

**I cant believe this fic has 26 reviews, thats crazy! I love it!**

"Sorted?" Sam repeated in disbelief.

"Yup," Drydin confirmed, digging down into one of his robe's pockets, "Aha! Almost got it!"

He pushed his arm further into the pocket until nearly his whole arm was hidden from view.

"Gotcha!" he exclaimed, extracting his limb and pulling out a battered and patched old hat.

As she was trying to distract herself from the momentous thing that was about to happen, Sam focused on something more trivial.

"Your pockets are bigger on the inside!" she said excitedly, causing Drydin to raise an eyebrow as if to say 'what? Aren't yours?'

"Oh, I just can't _wait_ to learn how to do an Undetectable Extension Charm!"

The Headmaster regarded her strangely for a moment before shaking out the Sorting Hat and placing it on her blonde head.

A small, quiet voice interrupted Sam's continuous thought stream of 'I can't believe this is happening!'

"My, my," said the voice, "what an interesting mind you have here, Samantha Perrick."

_Is that a good thing?_

"Indeed it is, Miss Perrick. Now, where should I put you? Never before have I had to place a student of your age…You are very kind-hearted, loyal, brave and you have a dose of mischievous trickery in you. Hmm, you would do well in any house but I think you should be in…GRYFFINDOR!"

A wave of relief washed over her, she had been irrationally worried for a moment that the Hat might decide that she belonged nowhere.

Drydin removed the frayed Hat and shoved it, with less care than he should have, back into his pocket and then he beamed brightly at her.

"Gryffindor!" he said happily, "You will be a welcome addition to my old house, Samantha."

He then announced that he must be on his way and quickly said goodbye to Sam, Hermione and Percy 'Jackson'. The Headmaster strode confidently out of the Minister's office.

Sam sunk down further into the leather seat, suddenly finding it to be very comfortable.

"Of course I'm in Gryffindor," she sighed, smiling, "I'm an OC and they're pretty much _always_ in Gryffindor."

Percy frowned, "What?"

* * *

Sam stepped shakily out of the fireplace and into the sitting room. She didn't think she would ever get used to traveling by Floo powder.

Rose, who had been lounging on the couch, shot up when she saw her friend,

"Please, tell me you're in Gryffindor!" she demanded.

"Rose," Sam began in a solemn tone, walking slowly towards the girl, "I'm in…"

She paused for dramatic effect and then allowed a grin to show, "Gryffindor!"

The next few minutes passed in a flurry of squeals, happy dances and excited jumping.

They didn't notice as Hermione exited the fireplace and watched them with amusement.

"Girls," she called to get their attention.

Rose and Sam froze mid-wild dance move for a moment before becoming unbalanced and falling in a crumpled heap onto one of the armchairs.

Hermione shook her head at them. Rose adjusted Sam's arm so it wasn't covering her face and asked,

"Yes, mum?"

"Well," Hermione began, "I was thinking about visiting Harry and Ginny, would you two like to come along?"

In their haste to jump out of the chair, the two girls landed with a loud thump onto the hard floor. The helped each other stand and then straightened themselves out, trying to look mature and professional.

"We'd love to," they said in unison.

"Right then," Hermione said with supressed humour, "Sam, why don't you go first?"

The older witch gestured back to the fireplace and told the blonde the address.

Apprehension crept up on Sam, "Oh, Floo travel again…yay."

She pulled a face, "Maybe I…"

The crystal clear image of Sirius' face painted itself in her mind's eye, she sighed.

"Fine," Sam grumbled as she stepped closer.

* * *

She stumbled out into what looked to be somebody's study. The late afternoon sunlight was soaking into the polished wood floor from one of the large windows on the far wall.

There was a heavy looking desk and chair to her right and many bookshelves and paintings lined the pale walls.

Not wanting to be in the way of the next person to arrive, Sam moved over to the window and found herself looking out into large back yard.

A blurry shape sped past, causing her to jump backwards, trip over her own feet and land painfully on her rear.

Sam let out a loud and unladylike expletive as she stood up once more and tried to rub the soreness away.

"Oh, hello, Samantha," a voice said.

Jumping again, she turned to face the person in the doorway and she blushed as she realised that they had seen her being clumsy and rude.

"Hi, Harry," she mumbled.

A small, amused smile settled on his lips as he walked over and placed some files onto the desk, "What brings you here?"

The fireplace flared to life then and Rose hopped out.

"Hey, Uncle Harry!" she greeted, "Mum's right behind me, if you were wondering."

Emerald flames appeared again and divulged Hermione who was then welcomed by Harry.

The two adults then left the room, discussing the trial of some crazy wizard that Harry had caught and Hermione was prosecuting.

Rose walked over to Sam and peered out the window.

"Oh, look," she said, "Al and Sirius are outside on their brooms."

_Well that explains that random blur._

"Let's go hang out with them," Rose decided.

"I don't know, Rose, I don't really like the idea of broo-" Sam had turned away from the window to look at her friend, only to realise that the other girl had already left.

"Great," moaned Sam as she began traipsing over to the doorway.

She found herself in a hallway, she turned a corner and walked through a large kitchen and then turned another corner. She was in a sunny sitting room and, she noted happily, the back door was on the other side.

Being extra careful, Sam made her way around the couches, tables and chairs and was almost to the door when she heard someone speak.

"Hi, Sam!" Lily Potter grinned exuberantly.

Sam jerked and yelped loudly in fright, only just stopping herself from swearing for the second time that day.

She clutched her chest, "Crikey, Lily, don't sneak up on me like that!"

"Sorry," the redhead said while looking completely unapologetic.

Sam narrowed her eyes at the younger girl but said nothing; instead she reached over and pulled open the back door, heading out into the warm light of the slowly descending sun.

Wary of the youngest Potter child, Sam kept some distance between them while they walked over to the end of the yard, this only seemed to amuse the girl more however, as she wore a secretive smile that convinced Sam that Lily would try to scare her again.

_I'm going to have to watch my back around that one; she's trouble on two legs._

Sam looked around but she couldn't see any traces of Albus or Sirius, she could see Rose lying on the grass by birdbath near the back of the fenced area, but no boys.

She and Lily flopped down next to Rose. Just as Sam was about to ask whereabouts the others were, two distorted looking figures whizzed around from behind the large house.

The delayed echo of Albus and Sirius' laughter drifted towards the girls, just as the boys were slowing down and drifting themselves over.

The two dismounted the brooms, swung them over their shoulders and sauntered over.

Sam watched as Sirius looked first at Lily, then at Rose, he didn't look too carefully or too long at them so she was surprised at the way his grey eyes lingered when he stared at her.

She struggled valiantly against the blush trying to colour her cheeks, she refused to look at him because, surely, if she could pretend he wasn't staring at her then she wouldn't blush.

So instead of looking at the ridiculously attractive Sirius Black, Sam turned her attention to Albus, whom, she noted distractedly, was also very good looking.

Both guys were tall and strong, but Albus had more of a Seeker's build rather than a Beaters one like Sirius.

"Hey, Albus," she smiled at him as he and Sirius sprawled themselves down onto the grass as well.

He returned the friendly smile, "Hey, Sam."

"Al!" Rose said, practically twitching with joy, "Sam just got sorted!"

The two Potters and Sirius raised their eyebrows.

"Really? Well, what house is she in?" Albus wanted to know.

Sam grinned proudly, "Gryffindor."

"Excellent!" he grinned, scooting close so he could high-five her.

As their hands slapped together, Sam noticed an odd expression on Sirius' face in her peripheral vision. She quickly turned to see what it could have been but it was gone in the next second, leaving her confused.

She had a slight frown on her features as she examined him, he quirked an eyebrow in a 'something wrong?' sort of way, it was almost a challenge.

She shrugged and let her gaze turn to the broomsticks that were now nestled in the vivid green grass.

"Want to have a go on it?" Sirius' low voice asked.

Her blue eyes jumped to his grey ones and she violently shook her head, "No, no, no and no."

There was a round of 'aw come on, give it a try, Sam', but she just kept shaking her head at them.

Sirius smirked at her, "Why not? I thought you were a brave Gryffindor?"

Sam scowled, "I _am_ a brave Gryffindor," she said decisively.

He tilted his head towards the broom, "So, why not?"

"Because," she had to think for a moment, "Because I know I will fail at flying and I don't want to embarrass myself. I'm not one of those characters who says or thinks they will be bad but actually turn out to be really good…I'll just be bad."

He shrugged, "Everyone's bad at the start, Samantha."

A strange, tingly, heart spasming feeling occurred when he said her name and it unnerved her more than the idea of flying on a broom.

Albus jumped to his feet, picked up the broom and then offered a hand to Sam.

"Come on, just have one little go," he encouraged.

She pulled a face but took the green-eyed boy's hand nonetheless and let him pull her up.

Sirius stood also but Rose and Lily remained where they were.

"Now," Albus began to instruct, "all you have to do you mount it…like that, yes, and kick off from the ground and don't worry, Sirius will be on the other broom and he won't let you fall."

"I doubt that," muttered Sam just before she kicked off.

Air rushed past her as she ascended quickly, her rapidly beating heart hammered even harder as she panicked, _too fast! Too high! I'm gonna die!_

She squeezed her eyes shut and willed herself and the broom to stop moving.

"You alright there?" Sirius called to her from nearby.

Sam's eyes cracked open and she let out a startled squeal as she saw how far up she was. The white-knuckled grip she had was growing painful but she refused to loosen it even slightly.

"Samantha?" Sirius prompted as he eased closer.

She pulled several deep breaths, trying desperately to calm herself.

She could almost hear him rolling his eyes as he said her name again, "Samantha."

She couldn't tear her gaze away from the broomstick handle until Sirius placed a warm hand over hers.

"Look at me, you're doing great," he said, "Just keep breathing."

Her eyes locked with his and then calmness started to overcome the panic rioting within her.

"You're okay now, right?" he wanted to check.

She gave a tiny nod and felt a hint of foreboding at the megawatt grin that appeared on his face.

"Great! Now, let's get moving!" Sirius shouted gleefully as he used the hand he had placed over Sam's, to put pressure on the broom's handle and send it hurtling forward.

A terrified scream was ripped from Sam, because whatever sense of calm Sirius had given her; he had just taken it back.

She was speeding through the air now, the wind whipping her blonde hair about her and stealing tears from her blue eyes.

Sirius easily kept up with her and he tried to tell her how to slow down but his words never made it to her ears.

Forced to take some more drastic action, he reached out and struggled to grip her broom's handle and, judging by her renewed screams, Sirius figured that his changing of the direction they was going in, was not appreciated.

They were heading to the ground, that hadn't been _quite_ what he'd meant to have happen, he had only wanted to get them closer to the ground in the event of her fall, _not_ have them dive-bomb the hard earth at a breakneck pace.

_Merlin, this chick's gonna be the death of me! _Sirius thought as he strained to now pull up on the handles of both of their broomsticks.

The relief he felt when they stopped at a hover just a few feet off the ground, was almost as much as he had felt that time when he, James, Remus and Peter had managed to sneak past McGonagall after they had been in her room and charmed all of her robes to be an obnoxious and _permanent_ shade of hot pink.

Samantha suddenly realised that she was not in motion and was in fact, side by side, or rather, broomstick by broomstick with Sirius and, she noted, his hand was still covering hers.

All of the adrenaline that had been flowing through her veins, vanished in a moment, leaving her feeling horribly weak.

Sam's death grip on the broom was released and she slipped sideways onto the grass, landing in an inelegant heap.

_Curse him_, she thought bitterly as she watched Sirius gracefully dismount and stand over her.

"See?" he said smugly and with a cheeky wink, "I just _knew_ you were a natural flyer."

She rolled her eyes, "Are you going to help me up or not?"

"Oh, yeah," he offered his hand and she took it.

Deciding to be a bit tricky, Sirius pulled her up with more force than necessary, resulting in Sam being flung right up against his chest.

The air rushed out of her lungs upon impact and as she tried to regain it, she inhaled the scent of the boy holding her so close.

_Damn those clichés about people smelling really nice…is that spearmint? Mmmmm…_

"Didn't I tell you that he wouldn't let you fall?" Albus' voice intruded and shook Sam from the daze she was in.

She blinked and realised that she had been staring up at Sirius for the past minute or so. _Yikes!_

Cheeks now a bright pink, she pushed herself away from the boy and turned to face the other one who was approaching.

"You alright?" Albus asked, looking concernedly at Sam as he came to a stop beside them.

She shaped her lips into a smile, "Perfectly fine, thank you."

Albus brightened, "Great! Hey, you have a wand now right? Why don't we get you practising some easy spells?"

Sam grinned and then flinched as Sirius reached over to her and touched her head.

She levelled a glare at him, causing him to hold his hands up in a gesture of surrender.

"You had a leaf in your hair," he explained, looking a tad uncomfortable.

He shifted from foot to foot, "Um, why don't we ask Rose what spell to start with? She seems like the type to know that sort of thing."

Sam and Albus nodded and started off back to where Rose and Lily were seated.

* * *

They had spent an hour going over basic spells and everyone was suitably impressed with how far Sam had come in that short time.

"Well, I'm pretty good at remembering facts about things I find interesting and I always thought the spells were interesting," she said after Rose had expressed her admiration.

"That'll be very helpful, I think you'll make a great student," Rose grinned.

"Boring," drawled Sirius, "Rose, I'll not have you turn Samantha into a swot."

"Hey!" Rose protested, "I know how to have fun too! I'm not _all_ work, you know."

Sirius raised an eyebrow in disbelief and Sam wasn't sure what to think of Rose's declaration. Albus and Lily however, seemed to know something.

"Oh, we _know_," Al laughed, "I still remember that time you got revenge on Roxy by putting stinksap in her shampoo!"

Rose looked shamefaced as the others burst into roars of laughter.

"You lot look like you're having too much fun there," Harry called as he and Hermione ambled across the yard.

The teenagers struggled to regain themselves for a few moments.

"We'd better getting going home now, I have to get started on dinner, we wouldn't want Ron to try cooking, now would we?"

Sam had never experienced Ron Weasley's culinary attempts before but, going by Rose's facial expression, it was something she never wanted to try.

Standing up, Rose gave a quick hug to the Potter siblings and Sirius and started back towards the house with Harry and Hermione.

Sam stood up and, deciding to copy Rose, she hugged Lily first and then Albus. Remembering the way Sirius had nearly crashed her to the ground and how he had slammed her up against him, Sam decided to _not_ embrace him.

She turned to walk away and heard Sirius speak up,

"That was weird for everybody. Cause you accidentally hugged them instead of me."

* * *

That night, she dreamt of flying, of falling and of landing in a field of mint leaves.

When she woke in the early hours of the morning, Sam thought, _Well, _that_ was trippy,_ before drifting back into sleep, this time a dreamless one.

Her life was becoming a comfortable routine, everyday Rose would jump on her to get her to get out of bed and get dressed; they would then go downstairs for breakfast and spend the day going over spells.

Sam devoured any and all magical information from the countless books scattered throughout the house and she suspected that Rose really enjoyed having someone, other than her incredibly busy mother, to have deep discussions and study sessions with.

Every few days, Rose, Sam and occasionally Hugo, would go over and visit Albus, Lily and Sirius. James was never there, his busy Quidditch schedule didn't allow for much family time.

When the group of teens got together, Sam tried her hardest to not be awkward around Sirius, but he was making things very difficult.

He would give her lingering stares, find any excuse to brush up against her and he always called her 'Samantha', which, she wondered, might have been his way to keep them from being friends, after all, all of her friends called her Sam or Sammy.

_But I said he was my friend when I introduced him to Rose and he didn't correct me…agh, my poor brain…boy logic does not compute._

When it was nearly two weeks until the start of the school term, Hermione took her children and Sam to Diagon Alley in order to get their supplies for school.

Sam was ecstatic with every purchase and spent the rest of the day after they got back, parading around in her new robes.

The Hogwarts letter that she had gotten a few weeks ago was framed and hanging on her wall, Rose and Hugo thought she was being odd but Hermione, being a muggle-born, understood that Sam had wanted to keep the evidence that proved she was magical.

* * *

Sitting at her desk and writing out the different incantations for various spells, Sam paused for a moment and looked at the calendar on her wall, more importantly; she stared at the date for the next day, the one that was circled by a ring of bright purple.

A thrill of excitement sparked through her. She was going to Hogwarts tomorrow!

**AN: Please tell me you got that super obvious Doctor Who reference! I'll maybe, possibly forgive you if you didnt get the Megamind one... :P but if you got both, then you get 20 points!**

**So, favourite bit? Anything you didnt like? How is Sam as a character?**


	6. Chapter 6

**AN:****Anyway, im super happy you guys are enjoying this fic! I love that a few of you commented about how Drydin Dwent was like Dionysus from the Percy Jackson books! That was a happy and completely unintentional whatsit, ive never read those books...i might have to now though ;)**

******This fic is on a temporary hiatus, sorry :P When i return to it though, i will hopefully have several chapters pre-written :D**

There was no way Sam would be able to fall asleep. Her whole body was thrumming and animated by the anticipation of tomorrow.

She had told Rose's family that she was getting an early night in preparation of September 1st and that she wanted to be well rested for the biggest adventure of her life.

Unfortunately, something within her had other plans. Her mind raced with images of what the next day would bring and took her through the list of things she would have to do and take.

_Agh, stop thinking, Samantha! Go to sleep! _

Rolling over in a huff, she tried desperately to get comfortable.

Less than a minute later, she was rolling over again.

_Sleep! Sleep! Sleep!_

Sam reached over and turned on her beside lamp, clenching her eyes at the sudden brightness.

Once her eyes had adjusted to the new light, Sam raised her left wrist to check the time on her watch.

11:54pm.

_Let's see… if I fall asleep within the next half an hour, I'll get about 7 hours of sleep._

Realising that that wouldn't be enough, Sam switched off the light and tried to sleep again, all the while trying to stop her mind from telling her what her day would be like if she were tired.

Her body started to relax and she could feel herself drifting to sleep.

Tap, tap, tap.

_What was that?_

Heart kicking it up a notch, Sam felt alertness seep in.

_I must have imagined it, calm down._

Tap, tap, tap.

_The universe hates me_, she decided, flailing around for her lamp again.

For the second time in ten minutes, Sam's eyes adjusted but this time, she jumped.

Her blue eyes had fallen upon the window, or more precisely, upon the small gap between the drawn curtains.

A bright amber eye was staring at her.

Hand against the heart galloping in her chest, Sam tried to regain herself.

_What's an owl doing here, at _my_ window?_

Curiosity replaced the adrenaline coursing through her as she pulled off her blanket and sprang out of the bed. Her purple socked feet walked her over to the owl waiting patiently at her window.

Slowly, she drew back the dark curtains and eased open the window. The barn owl hopped onto the windowsill and stuck out its leg importantly.

"Who would send mail to _me_? Are you sure you got the right person?" Sam questioned the bird.

The owl clicked its beak in a 'don't insult me' sort of way, causing Sam to shrug and untie the letter.

She ambled over to her desk chair and sunk into it, unfolding the parchment, her curiosity nearly overwhelming her. So absorbed in the letter, Sam didn't notice that the owl was staring at her, waiting.

_Samantha_

_I hope this letter didn't wake you up…nah, I'm joking, of course I hope it woke you up. If I hadn't wanted to wake you, then I wouldn't have sent it at midnight. Anyway, I just happened to be unable to get to sleep and felt like talking to someone._

_Why you? You ask, well, I would've woken Albus, but the sound waves he made by snoring, prevented me from getting near his room, so, here we are._

_I didn't think you'd mind chatting with me for a bit, after all, I am devilishly handsome, witty and intelligent._

_Requesting that you reply immediately,_

_Sirius Orion Black_

"AGH!" Sam moaned, letting her head fall onto her desk.

She was finding it extremely hard to believe that the boy writing to her was the same one that had been the dog that had been so sweet. She knew that, as a dog he normally had a sweet disposition but, his human personality was so different, she wondered if that sweet side would ever show itself again.

She gave herself a minute to collect herself and decide that she was more amused than annoyed by the letter.

Pulling open a drawer, she withdrew a fresh piece of parchment, a quill and a bottle of ink.

Sam paused, poised to begin writing but hesitant.

_His writing is so nice, mine is like…like a five year olds. I guess I'll just have to do my very best._ Sam winced but began writing nevertheless.

After five minutes, she leaned back in her chair and re-read what she had written.

_Sirius Orion Black_

_You tosser, you're incredibly lucky that I happen to be also 'unable to get to sleep'._

_I'll tell you, if you _had_ woken me up, then the next time I would've seen you, I would've woken _you_ up…to a world of pain._

_Anyway, Albus is a snorer? Fortunately for you, you'll get to share a dorm with him for the next two years and if you can't sleep, you can always wake up some of the other boys in your dorm for a chat if you still can't get near Al._

_Devilishly handsome, witty and intelligent? So, you wanted to talk to someone like you? That's nice._

_Hoping that you've fallen asleep and that this letter wakes you,_

_Sam_

She had deliberately signed the letter as just 'Sam', hoping that he might explain why he only ever called her 'Samantha'.

She stood up and moved over to the owl, tying the letter and letting the bird be on its way.

_And now I wait…_ Sam walked to her bed and flopped down on it, staying that way for the next quarter of an hour.

_Is it sad that I'm waiting like this?_ She wondered, _I'm not pathetic am I?_

Tap, tap, tap.

She was off the bed and at the window in a heartbeat and untying the letter in the next, uncaring if her subconscious called her pathetic or not.

_Samantha_

_It's odd, but I find your threats to be rather intriguing…how would you go about 'waking me up to a world of pain'? I seem to remember a muggle fairy tale about a beauty being awoken with a kiss…_

_No matter how many in my dorm this year, I will still be sure to come and find you, I'm positive that you would be anxiously awaiting any interactions between the two of us._

_It will be strange though, not having James, Remus or Peter around, they had this musical way of snoring, Peter had a whistling thing going on and on the whole it was all rather melodious._

_Anyway, are you insinuating that you are devilishly handsome, witty and intelligent? Because that would be weird, I mean, I understand the intelligence bit, you are rather smart with spells and stuff, but…witty? Hmm, I don't know…also, devilishly handsome? I thought only men could be handsome, do you have something to tell me?_

_I must say that was quite horrible of you, hoping that you would wake me up; I didn't know you possessed such deviousness, a girl/boy of many mysteries are you?_

_Thoroughly intrigued now,_

_Sirius the sexy (not a tosser)_

_PS-loved the handwriting by the way, do you regress to a five year old whenever you start writing?_

Laughter bubbled up and Sam had to clasp her hand to her mouth in order to keep silent. Choking slightly and still trying to regain herself, she grabbed another piece of parchment and wrote her reply.

_Sirius the self-obsessed _

_Wow, you consider yourself a beauty? Can somebody say delusional? Also, I find it somewhat insulting that you would think a kiss from me would be painful._

_Woah boy, you are not waking me up for any sort of 'interactions between the two of us'._

_As for the musical snoring, I'm sorry that you will no longer have the pleasure of hearing it. I don't really know anything about missing people, but I'm sure I should tell you that it'll get easier as time passes. I've been trying not to think about my parents and old life, why dwell on it when I can't do anything about it, right?_

_Well, at least I can thank you for admitting that I'm intelligent and I'll have you know that I am very witty, you're just a meany face._

_You need to read more, women _can_ be called handsome, they were called that all the time back in the day. You just are the _loveliest_ person, aren't you? Filled with compliments. _

_I _am_ a GIRL of many mysteries, I'll have you know. If you ever catch me staring at you, it'll be because I'm trying to decide which colour to change your hair to, you'll be constantly wondering when I'm going to do it, that little mystery will drive you mad and also display my deviousness._

_In complete disagreement with both your 'sexiness' and 'not a tosser' status'_

_Sam I am_

_PS-You've learnt one of my secrets…I might have to kill you now. Or maybe I'll kill you just because you are so insulting._

Once the letter was winging its way to Sirius, Sam jumped back on her bed and waited, torn between being annoyed that she wasn't sleeping and being happy that she was talking to Sirius.

She wondered if they were flirting, she had never had much experience with any boys being interested in her but that was probably because they thought her to be a bit of an oddball.

The thought about this letter writing business making things awkward between them tomorrow, flittered around in her head but she eventually, partially soothed herself by acknowledging that things were always awkward between them.

Before she knew it, there was the familiar quiet tapping on the glass and again, she raced over and took the newest letter from the owl.

_Samantha the incredibly wrong,_

_Of course I'm a beauty, you know, in the masculine sense of the word. I think you might be the delusional one; after all, you're trying to convince yourself that you don't find me attractive._

_I have no idea what a kiss from you would be like, we should try it, if it makes you feel better, we could call it an experiment._

_Again, there is the delusional side of you; of course you want 'interactions between the two of us'. Also, Samantha, I am shocked at the implications, you have a dirty mind. Keeping on that track, you wouldn't want to be woken up? Just to be sure._

_Yes, that is what people say isn't it? That it'll get easier, I look forward to that time but at least I have you to distract me from my misery. You can use me as a distraction too if you want…Samantha, calm yourself and your dirty mind!_

_Meany face? Wow, you wound me so greatly, o mistress of insults and wit._

_Okay, I'll concede the point, women can be called handsome, but you shouldn't be called that, you should be known as what you truly are, beautiful. See? I can be nice._

_You're lucky that I happen to suit many different colours and that I don't mind the change in colour, especially since I know you're using the 'changing hair colour' ruse in order to stare at me._

_The only mystery that will occupy my mind is, whether or not you actually do have a devious bone in your body, because I'm beginning to wonder if I was right or not and, as I am me, I have to be right about everything. Therefore, if you are not truly devious, I shall endeavour to make you so._

_Offended by your lack of faith in my irresistible appearance,_

_Sirius the always right_

_Ps- I gave you a compliment; consequently you are not allowed to kill me for being insulting._

Sam snorted and was yawning as she pulled out yet another piece of parchment, thinking that as much as she was enjoying this little chat, she really need to get to sleep.

_Sirius the arrogant and never right_

_What do you mean, 'trying' to convince myself that I don't find you attractive? I'm not _trying_, I'm _succeeding_ and no, that doesn't mean that I find you attractive because I don't! Why does it even matter?_

_Ha! Nice try buddy, but kissing is not going to happen…ever. Yes, feel that sting of rejection! Mwahahahaahahaaaa_

_Implications!? You're the one implying! I meant that you're _not_ going to be waking me up in the middle of the night for anything less than a life and death situation and also, if I'm asleep, you are not allowed to go near me, like at all. But I suppose I don't have to worry about you getting to me while I'm in the girl's dormitories… do I?_

_What?! You're the one with the dirty mind, you won't convince me otherwise._

_Meany face=top insult, there you go, you learnt something, that's you for the year, isn't it?_

_Oh wow, that line…does that ever work for you? Siriusly, the fact that you are calling me beautiful in order to prove how 'nice' you are, shows how very not nice you are. I'm even more insulted now, are you happy? No, don't answer, I know you are._

_How would you like your hair to be Chudley Cannons orange? And why would I be staring at you? Because you're a beauty in the masculine sense of the word? No, it's more likely that I'm trying to figure out how your abnormally large head can stay upright. _

_Right about everything, eh? I doubt it and I see it as a challenge, watch out Sirius Black._

_Getting tired now and requesting that you wait until later tomorrow to reply,_

_Sleepy Sam_

_PS-I'm still going to kill you, but now it's because the compliment was just you trying to save your skin._

The poor owl having left with the letter, Sam stumbled over to her bed, turned off the lamp and snuggled down into her blankets.

Twenty minutes of being nearly asleep later, she heard it again.

Tap, tap, tap.

"He can't be serious!" she hissed, switching the lamp on again, ripping away her blanket and marching to the window.

"Of course not," she muttered somewhat angrily as she untied the letter, "He's _Sirius_."

_See? I waited…a bit. Good night then, love._

"Rage! Merlin! Sirius! Rahhhh!" Sam whisper yelled, feeling the powerful urge to rip the small piece of parchment into millions of pieces.

A thought sparkled for a moment; did he call her 'love'? Confusion smothered her anger and allowed her a semblance of calm as she tossed the little letter onto her desk.

Tearing a bit of paper into a tinier size, Sam spoke as she wrote,

"I'll see you tomorrow. Can't wait, L-O-L, smiley face."

She considered the words for a moment before scrunching up the parchment and throwing it into the desk drawer.

Glancing up at the window, Sam noticed that the owl had already left anyway; she wouldn't have been able to reply even if she had written something more suitable and truthful.

Hoping that this time when she jumped into her bed, she would be left in peace, Sam closed her eyes.

* * *

"Samantha Perrick, wake up!" Rose said shrilly in her ear.

"What?" Sam mumbled, "No, Sirius, go away, I said you can't be near me when I'm asleep."

Rose yanked on the blankets, "What was that sleepyhead? You're dreaming about Sirius?"

She pulled on the warm layers again, "Should I tell him that, Sammy?"

"No!" yelled Sam, springing up from the bed, "And I was _not_ dreaming about him!"

"Sure," Rose drawled sceptically, "And Scorpius Malfoy is the nicest bloke at school."

Seeing an opportunity to turn the tables on her friend, Sam spoke up,

"Thinking about Scorpius are you, Rosie? Maybe I'll talk to him today…"

Pink cheeks, red tipped ears, spluttering incoherently…oh yes, Rose Weasley was flustered.

Standing up and carefully shoving the red-haired girl from the room, Sam then allowed happiness to soak in.

Today was the day and Hogwarts had better watch out, Sam was on her way.

* * *

Platform 9 and ¾ was absolutely bustling. Parents and students alike crowded around, saying goodbyes and giving advice to others, just waiting for the clock to hit 11.

Hermione had made sure for her family and Sam to arrive half an hour before the train was to leave. Rose had run through the platform's barrier with Sam, her matter of fact way about things making the strange new experience somehow not so scary.

Rose and Sam were already dressed in their uniform and robes and Sam was glad to see they weren't the only ones eager to get to Hogwarts, there were a good number of other students already dressed as they were.

The gleaming scarlet train waited, open and allowing people of various ages to mill about, finding the carriages they wanted and staking their claims.

Sam tried her hardest to absorb every detail of her surroundings, her eyes were wide and she spun slowly around in a circle, noticing a fair few number of the 'Wotter' clan about the platform as well.

"Woah, watch it, Samantha," a familiar voice drawled.

She had spun right into the arms of Sirius Black, how convenient it was that he just _happened_ to be there.

His amused grey eyes looked down at her as she went bright pink and tried fruitlessly to extract herself from the grasp he had on her shoulders.

"Sirius," Rose chided, hoping to rescue her friend, "Leave Sam alone, she told me herself that she didn't want you near her."

"She did _not_!" he gasped dramatically, releasing Sam and holding his hands over his heart, "Samantha would never be such a…such a meany face!"

She couldn't help it; the giggle escaped her and created a broad grin on Sirius' handsome features.

Immediately, Sam forced the humour from herself, she couldn't let the boy know that he was amusing her.

"Where's Al?" she asked by way of distraction.

"Oh, he went off to find that Malfoy kid," Sirius said airily while glancing around the area, "Shall we go and grab a compartment now?"

Rose turned to see where her parents and brother had gotten to and, once she saw they were with Harry and Ginny, she agreed and pulled Sam along and into the Hogwarts Express with Sirius on their heels.

As they passed her family, Rose waved, letting them know they were boarding the train.

Sirius was, surprisingly, quite the gentleman, helping them both with their luggage and glaring at anyone who got in their way.

They found an empty compartment and settled in; Rose and Sam sat with Sirius opposite them. Sam struggled to hide the fact that she was feeling very uncomfortable with the grey-eyed boy directly across from her.

_I suppose it's better than having him beside me._

"Have a nice sleep?" Sirius questioned Sam as he watched Rose pull out a thick textbook and begin reading.

Sam leaned back against the back of the seat.

"Could've been better, some annoying prat kept sending me letters though," she said pointedly.

"Oh?" he raised an eyebrow, "That _is_ unfortunate."

"Isn't it just?" Sam muttered darkly before compelling herself to lighten the conversation, "So, are you excited to be going back to Hogwarts?"

A look of contemplation coated his face and his now-distant gaze turned to stare blankly out of the window. He didn't answer for a moment and then his eyes drifted back to her and a smile grew.

"Yes," he responded, "This is going to be a great year, I can't wait."

They sunk into a silence, Sam, for the life of her, could not think of anything else to say and it appeared that Sirius didn't feel the need to break the quiet.

Gradually the train began to fill up; the noisy teenagers started spilling throughout the train's corridors and calling last minute farewells to their parents.

Sam noted, with inexplicable annoyance, the way that many girls who passed their compartment stopped and openly gaped at Sirius as he lounged casually in his seat.

She wasn't sure if he was deliberately not taking any notice of the gawkers or if he just genuinely didn't see them, either way, she thought it a bit odd.

Albus suddenly appeared in the doorway and sauntered in, he stowed his trunk away and then plonked himself down next to Sirius.

"Did you find your friend?" Sirius asked.

Albus simply jerked his head to the door, making all eyes follow the direction.

_Holy heck, Scorpius Malfoy!_ Sam tried to take in all of his appearance without being overly obvious.

He was tall and had the same build as Albus. He, of course, had the Malfoy's signature white blonde hair and pale, aristocratic features. Seeing his grey eyes, Sam remembered that Scorpius and Sirius were related, _that's so weird!_

Abruptly, Sam felt a pain in her shin, "Ouch!"

"Sorry!" Sirius chirped, causing her eyes to narrow.

"What was that for?" she demanded, glaring at him.

He held his hands up in surrender, "It was an accident!"

Sam folded her arms across her chest, unimpressed by his excuse, "Yeah, right."

A tiny voice in the back of her mind suggested that Sirius had wanted to get her attention after she had been staring at Scorpius. _Ha! No, little voice, don't be stupid._

"Malfoy," Rose greeted coldly, moving her legs so there was more room for him to step into the small area.

"Weasley," Scorpius replied with polite iciness as he sat down beside Albus.

_Wow, they are _not_ doing the whole 'last name basis' thing!_

Despite the small ache in her leg, Sam gave a little laugh at the interaction between her friend and the blonde boy.

_Oh, they are _so_ in love and denying it! This is fantastic!_

Sam became aware of two things in the next moment, one was that the train was moving and the second was that she had spoken her last thought aloud.

The other four occupants of the compartment stared at her, Sirius and Albus with shocked amusement, and Rose and Scorpius with embarrassment stained cheeks and jumbled protests.

"Um," Sam began trying to fix her blunder, "I was…joking?"

The two self-conscious teenagers grabbed that hesitant excuse as if it were a lifeline.

"Funny joke, Sammy," Rose said with false delight and a forced smile.

"Yeah, hilarious," Scorpius added, "Who are you exactly?"

"Samantha Perrick," she offered her hand to him and he took it cautiously, as if she might jump at him and reveal fangs or something.

"Scorpius Malfoy," he stated carefully.

Sam occupied herself by staring intently out of the window and Albus nudged his best friend.

"Scorp, this is Sirius Black, I told you about him, remember?"

There was a flicker of recognition in Scorpius, he turned and studied the other grey-eyed boy.

They seemed to be sizing each other up as they shook hands.

"What kind of a name is Scorpius anyway?" Sirius asked after they had dropped hands.

The blonde shrugged, "One a bit like Sirius I guess."

Sirius pulled a 'fair enough' sort of expression and then the boys fell into a stereotypical conversation about Quidditch for the next quarter of an hour.

Rose, who had squashed herself into a corner, stood up and put away her book.

"Where're you going?" Sam asked, anxiously, her tone also including a 'don't leave me with them!' connotation.

Rose looked sympathetically at her friend before saying, "I have to get to the prefects meeting and then I have to patrol the corridors."

"Nooooooo! Noo!" Sam cried, channelling Luke Skywalker's reaction to finding out who his father really was, falling to the floor and clutching at the side of the train for support.

Rose simply rolled her eyes, "You'll survive."

Scorpius stood as well, regarding Sam as one would an insane person.

"I'm going too. Prefect," he explained.

Albus sighed, "Don't kill each other, okay?"

Rose and Scorpius glowered.

"No promises," Rose spat as she waltzed out of the compartment.

Sam missed Scorpius' dramatic exit when she was picking herself of the floor, she did hear the door slide closed however.

She had only just resettled in her seat and gotten back to ignoring the boys when the door slid open.

Hoping Rose had returned and had been joking about leaving, Sam looked over to the entry.

There was an eager looking mouse of a boy standing there, he had short and curly brown hair and had the twitching appearance of one who desperately needed to pee. He was clearly very excited about something.

"Albus," the boy squeaked, furthering the impression of being a mouse.

The emerald-eyed boy sighed and a hint of annoyance seeped into his demeanour.

"Colin, not now, go find your friends."

The young boy, Colin, jumped slightly, "But…but, Albus, I have to tell you something."

"Not now," said Al, getting irritated.

"This is urgent," Colin persisted.

"Then leave it urgently," Albus snapped.

"I heard from Jared who heard it from Yasmin who was told by-"

"Not fast enough, Colin, get to the point," Albus growled.

Sam was surprised, she hadn't expected this side of the middle Potter sibling, _maybe he just doesn't like Colin?_

"Oh, right!" the little boy flinched, "Apparently there's a new flavour of Jelly Slugs on the food trolley."

"What!" Albus jumped up and stood in front of Colin. He grabbed the younger student in hug.

"You, Colin Creevy the second, are the best!" Albus declared before literally picking the kid up and placing him to the side. Albus then marched determinedly out into the corridor.

Colin was positively star struck for a moment. Sirius gave the boy a gentle shove and closed the door behind him. Sam and Sirius were then alone.

"What was up with that?" Sam was curious.

"With Al?" clarified Sirius, "That guy has the biggest sweet tooth of anyone I have ever known, and that includes Moony the chocoholic."

Sam laughed, "Was he really obsessed with chocolate? I thought that was something people made up."

Sirius held up a finger to his lips, indicating that he would say nothing more on the subject.

She rolled her eyes and then faced the rapidly changing scenery, a device that also allowed her to stop from staring at his mouth, though she would never admit that she had been, not even to herself.

"Are you sure you don't want to try that experiment?" Sirius' low voice intruded a few minutes later.

Her blue eyes flicked over to him, "What experiment?" she asked with suspicion.

She had a feeling that she knew what he was referring to, but she needed to be sure.

Sirius crossed his arms over his chest and kicked his long legs out in front of himself, eyeing her with some sort of secret knowledge.

"Never mind," he smirked, making Sam frown in confusion.

"Agh," she grumbled, jerking her body back to face the window, a tad unsure why she was so annoyed at the boy.

He chuckled and she thought about using her foot to kick him. Sam had never been the best at stopping herself from carrying out the things she thought about.

"Ouch!" Sirius yelped.

"Oh, I'm sorry," she said without remorse.

He frowned, "What was that for?"

"You're infuriating, did you know that?" Sam responded.

He was suddenly sitting beside her and telling her, "And you're a bully."

He punctuated his statement by jabbing her side with his hand.

Sam jumped several inches into the air and let out a shriek, she then flung herself over to the other half of the compartment and plastered her back to the wall, holding her handing out in front of her as if she were before a wild animal and she was trying to appear non-threatening to it.

Delight lit his face, "Ticklish are you?"

His near-blinding grin distracted her for a moment and gave him the opportunity to dart forward and duck under her outstretched arms.

"Aaaahh!" Sam squealed falling down onto the seat, "S-stoppp t-tick…ling m-m-me!"

The fit of insane laughter she was suffering from had her squirming about, trying futilely to fight off Sirius.

Focused as he was on torturing the blonde girl, Sirius didn't notice when the compartment door slid open once again.

"Well, well, well," came a feminine voice, "What's going on here?"

They froze, both realising how the situation would look. Sam, still lying on the seat, tilted her head back to look at the new arrival while Sirius, who had been leaning over her, fell backwards and landed painfully on Sam's legs.

"Ow! Sirius, get off!" Sam yelped, managing to push him onto the floor.

Sam straightened herself up, fighting the blush that was creeping up on her as she observed the two girls in the doorway.

One was tall and slender, with her black hair in two loose braids on either side of her head. Her icy blue eyes seemed lit from within as she surveyed the awkward duo and Sam could almost see the girl filing away the encounter to recount later to anyone who would listen.

The other girl, who had not spoken, was shorter than her friend and a bit round. She had short, honey brown hair and dark brown eyes that held interest and speculation.

"Nothing's going on here," Sam said, trying to act as if that were really the case.

The black-haired girl's eyes drifted over Sam, taking in the now-rumpled robes, the messy blonde hair and flushed cheeks.

"I've not seen you before," the girl said with a slight frown.

"I'm Samantha Perrick, I'm new this year, I've been…home schooled for the past few years."

"Nice to meet you, Samantha. I'm Hannah Plyson and this is my best friend, Tayla Ronds. We're sixth year Gryffindors."

_Oh, great._

"Really?" Sam asked, "I guess we'll be in the same dorm then."

"You're a sixth year Gryffindor too?" the other girl, Tayla questioned.

_Duh, that's pretty much what I said._

"Yes, I am," responded Sam, forcing a smile.

"Odd," remarked Hannah, "You don't look like a sixth year, you look…younger."

_Ouch._

"Take it as a compliment," Sirius suggested quietly to Sam, but not quietly enough for the other two girls to not hear.

"And you are?" Hannah enquired, raking her cold eyes over his mussed form on the floor.

He stuck his chin out in challenge as she inspected him. He must have passed her examination and reached her standards because she smiled at him.

"Sirius Black," he finally answered her, unsmiling.

Both new girls frowned then, struggling to remember why the name was so familiar.

While they tried and failed, Sirius picked himself up and sprawled back onto the seat.

Hannah seemed to give up on remembering and went back to watching him like he was going to give her a piece of juicy gossip.

"Tayla and I heard some rather loud noises from in here, care to explain?"

Sam and Sirius exchanged looks and then answered simultaneously, "Nope."

They were confident with the fact that Hannah and Tayla _knew_ what had happened was perfectly innocent.

Icy blue and dark brown eyes narrowed.

"Fine," Hannah said with false calm, "See you round then. Come on, Tay."

The two girls left and a feeling of awkwardness settled over the two teenagers who remained.

"Don't ever tickle me again," Sam warned, trying to be threatening.

Judging by the boy's grin, she was failing absolutely.

Sam found herself in an intense staring contest with Sirius, she was scowling at him and he was giving her the puppy dog look he was so good at.

Without warning, Albus burst into the compartment and immediately shoved Sirius' shoulder.

"I couldn't even leave you alone with her for-" he checked his watch, "-twenty minutes, Sirius!"

The emerald-eyed boy was growing more outraged by the second.

Sirius jumped up, "Woah! Slow down, Al, what are you on about?"

Albus glared, "I heard all about it as I was coming back."

"About what?" Sam interjected, exasperated.

"It's all over the train about how the two new kids were 'snogging like there was no tomorrow'," Al huffed in frustration, "Sirius, how could you? Sam's like a…like a… little baby deer! And she's special! You're not allowed to just snog her whenever you feel like it."

If she hadn't been stuck on the 'little baby deer' comparison, Sam would have been touched by the brotherly protectiveness that Albus was displaying.

She suddenly caught up on what she and Sirius were being accused of, she looked to Sirius to see if he was going to deny the charges.

He appeared to be frozen, his mouth slightly open and his grey eyes blinking slowly while his mind struggled to process.

_Well, you're no good, are you?_

"Albus," she addressed, "Where on earth did you hear such rubbish? Was it, perhaps, from two girls, one called Hannah Plyson and the other, Tayla Ronds?"

The boy she was trying to reason with, faltered and turned his confused gaze to her.

"Now that you mention it, I heard it from Tayla's sister Michelle who said she got it from Tayla…why?"

Sam rolled her eyes, "Because, _obviously_, Tayla's best friend is Hannah, who is _clearly_ the school gossip. They were both in here just before and must have decided that Sirius and I were too boring, and so they invented something. Honestly, I'm a bit disappointed that you'd believe hearsay so quickly, have you no faith?"

Albus grew suitably shamefaced and Sirius regained his brain at that moment.

"Sam's right and I'm offended that you would accuse me like that, Albus," Sirius disapproved.

"Look, you two," Albus started, "I'm sorry! Okay, I wasn't thinking."

Sam shrugged and opened her arms up, inviting Al in for a forgiving hug.

When they stepped back, Al looked at the Sirius with a hopeful expression.

"Oh, no," Sirius was shaking his head, "I don't forgive as easily as the little baby deer."

Albus dug into his pocket and pulled out a small and bright green box.

"Jelly Slug?" he offered.

* * *

_The quickest way to a man's heart is through his stomach…never has there been a truer statement,_ Sam thought, watching Albus and Sirius gesture widely as they talked about Quidditch…again.

While she was glad to have them being friends again, she wished they would include her in the conversation, actually, no, she just wished they would stop talking about Quiddtich.

"Are we there yet?" she wailed in desperation.

Both boys paused, evidently they forgotten that she was even there.

Albus glanced at his watch, "Um, no, we have another twenty minutes."

Sam clutched her head and moaned, she almost didn't hear Albus say,

"Sirius, we should probably get into our uniforms now."

Too busy trying to stop herself from banging her head against the window, Sam barely registered Sirius' response and the sounds of luggage being moved about.

When she had pulled herself together, Sam looked up.

"Holy crap!" she gasped, "What are you _doing_!? Put your clothes back on!"

"What?" the two boys asked, as if it were perfectly normal for them to be stripping off their clothes.

For all she knew, it was, but she didn't want to think about that.

Albus pulled on his school shirt and was straightening it up while Sirius was unmoving, his hands holding his own shirt in the 'just about to put on' position.

He was caught up in his own amusement at Sam's expense and seemed to have forgotten that he was shirtless and exposing his rather impressive physique.

_Don't look, don't look, don't look!_

Sirius smirked, "Don't look at what?"

Her blue eyes slammed shut, "Nothing!" she claimed, "Just hurry up, would you?"

She heard the rustling of fabric and Sirius commenting to Al,

"You know what? I think she's a bit embarrassed."

Albus laughed, "Really? I think _we_ should be the ones feeling embarrassed, she was perving at us, after all."

Sam's eyes flew open in outrage, "I was _not_!"

Thankfully, they had finished changing by then and she didn't get another eyeful.

"Why were you changing when I was in here anyway?" she demanded in irritation.

They both shrugged.

"We're not ashamed of ourselves and we're too lazy to go somewhere else or ask you to leave," explained Albus.

_If I didn't know them, that would sound a bit…_she shook her head, trying to free her mind of mixed thoughts.

The boys then set about tidying the mess they had made of the compartment and Sam went back to staring at the world outside.

_Don't think about his ab muscles, Sam, don't do it, I said don't!_ Her internal argument continued and kept her thoroughly occupied.

Before she knew it, Sirius was waving his hand in front of her eyes.

"Samantha, we're here," he informed her.

**AN:This is my new favourite chapter :D And its nice and big too :D**

**Agh, i had had Sirius' letters in a fancy font, but obviously, it didnt want to happen :P Anyway, five points if you got the Megamind quote! (i know, another one right? I love that movie) 10 points if you visualised the Luke Skywalker face/reaction ;) 15 points if you got the Avengers quote, it's a bit sneaky i think :P**

**Please review and tell what you liked and/or didnt like!**


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